


Three Misunderstood Spirits

by owlgirl375



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Firefly, Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Other, and a compassionate spirit, meeting of two psychic weirdos, offer of a memory wipe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 12:36:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13704600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlgirl375/pseuds/owlgirl375
Summary: Those may have been the zuì huài de memories of her life, but she didn’t want to give any of them up.





	1. Cole

A usual night on Serenity was one full of nightmares for River Tam-her time at the Academy and nightmares from Miranda. This night was different.

The nightmares came, all in vivid clarity. Then they transitioned. She was now curled in the fetal position, her crying echoing in an unknown environment. The floor was very cold. Perhaps she was in a cave, but she would hear the wind and water dripping somewhere-  
"You think too much.”  
Such an odd remark, out of nowhere, in a dream. The sobbing didn’t cease entirely, but it subsided into hiccuping as River looked up at the speaker through tear-filled eyes. He had a hat, with overgrown blonde hair covering blue, bloodshot eyes. He was wearing clothing that seemed haphazardly created, with strange leather boots to complete the look. Was he from Earth-That-Was, long, _long _before the Alliance had been created? Her attention turned elsewhere-or, rather, to the lack of scenery. Darkness substituted that, in addition to sky and horizon. The ground was reflective glass, which was why it felt so cold. Should she be scared? Had this boy brought her here? And how did sight not fail her, considering how dark it was? She could see everything clearly.__  
"You think too fast, too. An apple and a bird, falling, falling from a tree. The apple reflects the sunshine while the bird, newly born, tries to fly. But which to save? Down, too fast to the ground. The bird is saved, the apple bruised." It wasn’t an accent River recognized from any planets she’d visited in the 'Verse-but it was certainly a strange analogy. Who was he? Could he read minds? She stood up, questions reeling off in her mind.  
"I’m Cole,” he replied. "This is the Fade.” Before he could continue, there was a cool draft of wind on the back of River’s neck-that hadn’t affected her hair at all. She turned around in the direction of the draft to see no one. At the same time, she felt an unexpected, slight headache for no reason. It was simply a dream, she reminded herself, but that didn’t stop her from turning to Cole, intending to ask him about it-only to find him gone. Nowhere to be seen. Panic quickly clotted her mind. Strange as he might’ve been, she didn’t want to be alone.  
"Don’t leave me!” She cried out.  
"I brought you here,” Cole’s voice began from behind her. She turned around again to find him walking around agitatedly. "I want to help, not kill, a river and a number, not two birds, though I don’t know how to help with one stone,” he added absent-mindedly. "I heard your pain, heard your hurting. You said you remembered too much. I can make you forget, if you like. All of Miranda and the Academy. Sanri wants me to ask before, and if they say no, then leave them alone," he finished, and vanished. Then he rattled off something she said:  
"People don’t like to be meddled with. What to do, what to think. Don’t run, don’t walk, we’re in their homes and in their heads and haven’t the right.”  
"Stop it,” she spoke suddenly, voice trembling with fear. "I don’t want to forget.” Those may have been the _zuì huài de_ memories of her life, but she didn’t want to give any of them up.  
A tense silence followed this.  
"Cole?” She asked into the nothingness hesitantly. Exactly where, who, or what was the "number” he referred to?  
Either he didn’t hear the questions, or he heard them, but didn’t want to unsettle her more.  
"A strange name for a river.” That was his parting phrase as River became dizzy. She no longer felt the cool, glass ground as everything else became dark.

____

____

Whenever she came back to thinking of it, she would assure herself that, no matter how real it seemed, it had only been a dream, nothing more, nothing less.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuì huaì de-worst


	2. The Number

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The meeting of a river and a number.

She was back in "the Fade” again. River didn’t see Cole anywhere.  
"Cole?" She asked tentatively. There was nothing for several moments, then-  
A draft of cold wind, on the back of her neck, not her hair, just like before. And the slight headache. That hadn’t happened when Cole arrived. But both had arrived before he had started talking about “the number”.  
What connection did River hold to a number?  
Why had Cole brought her, or both, here?  
_People don’t like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don’t run, don’t walk. We’re in their homes and in their heads and we haven’t the right._  
That was what Cole had parroted back to her. Had he been trying to tell River something important? She couldn’t dwell on it now.  
Should she stay here and wait for someone to come, or something to happen? River held the intention that the first time here would be her last.  
River couldn’t wait.  
And so, with the usual dancer’s grace, River began walking in the direction the draft had came from, the headache gradually increasing.

* * *

The source of the headache turned out to be a girl, much younger than her, with closely-cropped shaved brown hair. River could tell, from both first sight, and the headache, that there was more than met the eye. She stood off, at a distance, away from her. The headache was becoming unbearable.

“‘S not right,” River eventually spoke. She wanted to say something, to fill in the silence, not repeat Miranda.  
“People taking power they believe they can control and using it to their own means,” she elaborated, though she was quite sure Eleven already knew what she meant.  
She wanted to leave, but River wasn’t sure how to say this. And it would be leaving Eleven to the same fate River had been condemned to, moments-hours? Minutes? Time held no real concept here. Anyway, if she left Eleven would be alone, just as she had been, unless Cole arrived after her. Perhaps he was here, but invisible to both of them, since River didn’t want to forget about the Academy and Miranda.  
She couldn’t hide her thoughts. And she already knew how to leave.  
“Unusual name for this place,” River commented aloud, in hopes for a distraction. “The Fade.”  
Eleven gave her a blank look. “Fade?” She asked. River shifted uncomfortably, picking on thoughts of _the Gate_. She knew that, in turn, Eleven was learning about Cole and the strange terminology he had used. River made her decision. Hesitantly, she moved closer to Eleven, which made the headache worse and worse, until everything faded to darkness again.

**Author's Note:**

> Gah! The first work I finished and published! Constructive criticism is appreciated and find me on tumblr @owlgirl375!


End file.
